


And Cartoonish Doodles of Fish

by Regalli



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Grocery buddies, In which Carlos and Cecil are both dorks with crushes, M/M, Positive Cecilos Fic Drive, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-01
Updated: 2014-04-01
Packaged: 2018-01-17 18:38:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1398358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Regalli/pseuds/Regalli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This all started because Carlos was good with routines and bad with… well, with a lot of other things. Adapting to the ever-changing geography of Night Vale, for instance, particularly the Ralph's.<br/>Fortunately for him, Cecil's always ready to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Cartoonish Doodles of Fish

This all started because Carlos was good with routines and bad with… well, with a lot of other things. Specifically, his distinct inability to adapt his grocery shopping route when every aisle in the Ralph’s spontaneously rearranged themselves overnight and every label there was written in some strange combination of Cyrillic, Modified Sumerian, and cartoonish doodles of fish.

And so Carlos found himself one Sunday afternoon at 2:15 standing at the front of the Ralph’s, staring in distress with an empty shopping cart. 

“Carlos? Are you okay?” 

“Oh! Cecil!” Sure enough, there was the local radio host, with an armful of reusable magenta shopping bags. “The layout changed. And the labels. Actually I think everything changed, do you happen to know what’s going on?” 

Cecil looked up at the aisle signs, which all had the fish doodles instead of numbers. “Hm. That’s new. It does this every couple months. Store opens, everything looks unfamiliar, everyone’s uncomfortable, and then pop! Closing time hits and all is back as it should be by the next day. Usually the aisle numbers at least stay numbers, though.” Apparently, Carlos still looked distressed, because Cecil was making a face Carlos registered as “concerned”. “You can probably just come back tomorrow, if you want. Most people do.” 

“I- No, I go grocery shopping for the week on Sundays. It’s… Like the clocks. And time slowing down. If I don’t go shopping today I’ll probably spend the whole week feeling like everything’s wrong because time isn’t real. Also I don’t have anything for dinner besides a box of cheese crackers shaped like whales that’s been sitting in my pantry since I came to town. Probably gluten-free, judging by the fact that they are still whale-shaped cheese crackers and not venomous snakes or malevolent spirits, but not very appetizing.” 

Oh, god, what if Cecil thought he was asking him to dinner or something? It’d be rude to say no, but he couldn’t say yes because he still hadn’t figured out if Cecil was serious about the whole “fell in love instantly” thing or not, and also he still wasn’t sure about that whole Telly incident, and would Cecil even like him on a date probably not no one did, and anyway he wasn’t there to date locals, not even really cute if slightly sinister ones with gorgeous voices and eyes so amber you could use them in your misguided attempt to resurrect a dinosaur using the mosquitos trapped inside. 

Carlos’s mind went some very interesting places with metaphors, sometimes.

“I could help you read the labels, then? If you wanted, of course! But, well, I know so few places offer Modified Sumerian these days, so if you need any assistance?” Cecil gave a little smile and Carlos reminded himself once again that he was not here to date the really cute locals. 

“Yes! That would be helpful. Thank you, Cecil.” Grocery shopping wasn’t a date. Grocery shopping was just an errand and if he happened to get assistance from a fellow citizen then it would be a nice social interaction that happened to go with an errand.

But wow, Cecil looked nice when he was beaming like that.

\---

“And that should be it! The cash registers don’t change, so I think you’ll be fine,” Cecil said, handing Carlos’s grocery list back to him.

“Yes, that I can handle. Thank you, Cecil.” He smiled, because that was what people did when thanking nice fellow citizens after they’d been helpful and not at all related to the fact that this particular nice fellow citizen thought his smile was perfect. Nope. Not related whatsoever.

“No trouble at all! It’s the least I can do as a friend – I mean, if you’re comfortable with us being friends, of course!” he added, blushing.

“I- no, friends is fine. I don’t have a lot of time for socializing, of course, what with science and all, but. I’d like to be your friend. If you don’t mind that.”

“Of course not! Science comes first, no need to worry,” Cecil said, still smiling. “But if you ever need help with groceries again, maybe…”

“Yeah. Sure. Like I said, I go shopping Sunday afternoons, just after two. If we happen to run into each other then, I’d be happy to go shopping with you. You were quite helpful today.”

“So, see you around?”

“See you around.”

\---

Cecil wasn’t there next Sunday, but he was there the two after. The second time he was sure Cecil wasn’t there, but it turned out he was just in camouflage because Valentine’s Day was coming up that week and the Ralph’s was always a nightmare in preparation for that dark and terrible day. He’d also brought a red-and-pink, heart-patterned rain poncho for Carlos, since he wasn’t sure the scientist was ready for the pre-Valentine’s slaughter, and helped him keep away from the dreaded Chocolate Aisle. Then two weeks turned to three turned into a month and suddenly Carlos found it had become part of his routine, going grocery shopping with Cecil.

He brought it up that week, and like everything else related to interpersonal matters, he did so awkwardly. 

Specifically, with a coupon.

“Oh! This is… Actually this is in English, I don’t think you need me to read it to you. Unless you’ve come down with that sudden bout of illiteracy? In which case, I’m so sorry, it usually clears up in a few days, but-“

“No, no!” Carlos said, still holding the coupon out in front of him. “It’s- It’s for you. I noticed it in the paper and thought, hey, I’ve seen you buy this before, and since we’re kind of grocery buddies I thought it might be nice to save it for you. If you don’t mind, I mean.”

“Grocery buddies… I like it! We can totally be grocery buddies! I mean, we sort of are already I guess is your point, but. Thank you.” Cecil smiled at that and Carlos didn’t even try not to smile back. “And if I see any coupons for you I’ll definitely save them.” He took the one in Carlos’s hand, grinning. 

And that was how Carlos found himself going grocery shopping every week with Cecil Palmer. And more grocery-related adventures would follow.

But that was all for another day.


End file.
